The Moon Lotus Sect's main hall was quiet as Elder Ziyue approached, her steps light against the polished jade floor. At the far end, perched with regal poise upon her seat, was the Sect Master herself—Sect Master Yunxue, a woman whose age had long since surpassed the bloom of youth.
248 years old. Her cultivation was formidable, her dignity unshakable, her robes immaculate… but the faint lines at her eyes and the slight sag of her cheeks betrayed the toll of time. Not that anyone dared mention it.
When Ziyue entered, Yinxue's sharp gaze snapped to her like a hawk spotting prey.
"Well? How is this Haotian of yours faring? Has he blown up the cauldrons yet?"
Ziyue bowed gracefully, her lips curving. "On the contrary, Sect Master. He is refining without error. His new pills have already astonished the elders. Healing, cultivation, energy flow…" She paused deliberately, letting silence stretch, before adding slyly: "And… one more."
Yinxue's brows arched. "One more?"
Ziyue's smile widened like a cat preparing to drop a mouse at her master's feet. "The Beauty Restoration Pill."
For a heartbeat, silence.
Then Yinxue froze. Her mouth opened. Closed. Opened again. Finally she croaked, "Wh-what did you just say?"
"The Beauty Restoration Pill," Ziyue repeated, voice honey-sweet. "One that restores radiance, clears blemishes, tightens the skin, brightens the eyes. With regular use, one might appear… say, fifty years younger."
Yinxue shot up from her seat so fast the jade floor cracked beneath her feet. Her sleeves flew as she raised her arms to the heavens.
"Blessed be the gods! Blessed be the heavens! At last, they pity Yunxue!"
Her attendants scrambled backward, ducking as their master spun in circles of joy, clutching at her cheeks as though testing them already.
"Ziyue! My brilliant Ziyue! You are the jewel of this sect! You will be rewarded! Promoted! Elevated! Bathed in lotus wine for a hundred years!"
Ziyue merely inclined her head, her smile sly. "I merely brought him to you, Sect Master. The true merit lies with Haotian."
"Then triple his stipend!" Yinxue barked, waving her sleeves. "No—quadruple! No—grant him his own kitchen as well!"
The attendants blinked. "Sect Master… a kitchen?"
"For soup!" Yinxue snapped, still delirious. "Pill soup! Beauty soup! Do not question me!"
With a final flourish, Ziyue placed a single Beauty Restoration Pill in a jade box and slid it forward. Yinxue snatched it with trembling hands, hugging it like a long-lost lover.
"Mine," she whispered.
Ziyue bowed, suppressing her laughter as she withdrew.
The next day, the entire sect gathered in the assembly hall for the regular morning announcements. Disciples lined the courtyard, elders stood poised at their seats.
But when the Sect Master's dais was revealed… gasps exploded like fireworks.
On the high seat, where the 248-year-old matron usually sat, there now reclined a dazzling maiden no older than twenty-one. Her skin was smooth as jade, her eyes bright as spring water, her hair gleaming black as midnight.
She leaned on one hand, smiling faintly, and the hall descended into chaos.
"Who is she?!""An intruder?!""No, she's sitting in the Sect Master's place—""Wait… no… impossible…"
Yinxue's voice, sweet and youthful, rang out: "Silence, you little chicks. It is I."
The entire sect stared in stunned disbelief. Elders dropped their fans. Disciples fainted. Someone in the back screamed.
Ziyue, composed as ever, stepped forward and bowed deeply. "Sect Master Yinxue. Truly… you look radiant."
The Sect Master laughed, flipping her glossy hair with delight. "Radiant? Hah! Call me peerless fairy of the lotus! From this day, my wrinkles are but a rumor!"
The sect erupted again, some weeping with joy, others groaning with despair. A few disciples immediately vowed to offer incense at Haotian's door forevermore.
Haotian, in his sanctuary on the mountain, sneezed.
Haotian had refined many things in his life—healing pills, cultivation boosters, pills that could steady the flow of qi itself. But never, never, had he refined something that caused so much havoc.
The moment the first Beauty Restoration Pills circulated through the sect, the Moon Lotus Sect turned upside down.
It began with whispers.
"Did you see Elder Yunyao this morning? Her crow's feet are gone.""No, that was her disciple, surely.""…Her disciple is fifty-three."
Then came the gasps.
A group of stern matrons descended the pavilion steps, but instead of silver-haired women in their twilight years, a parade of radiant young maidens flowed past—skin glowing, hair black and gleaming, laughter lilting like bells. Only their elder emblems pinned to their robes revealed their identities.
"Elder Xue?!" one disciple squeaked.The "maiden" turned, hands on her hips. "Who else, child?!"
Disciples fainted on the spot.
Soon, chaos bloomed like wildfire.
Haotian's sanctuary courtyard became the new "sacred pilgrimage site." Lines of disciples stretched beyond the gates, all clutching jade bottles or trays of herbs as offerings. Some knelt. Others fluttered their lashes shamelessly.
"Senior Haotian, this disciple is willing to grind herbs for you every day if you'll just give me one more pill…""Haotian, your fire is so steady, but surely your heart is warmer—should I test it?""Great Alchemist, do you not need an assistant? I can fan your flames… literally, or otherwise."
One girl even appeared in a flowing red dress, pouting as she offered to "trade favors" for a pill. Another boldly plopped herself at his side during refinement, leaning closer and closer until her sleeve nearly caught fire.
Through it all, Haotian remained calm, his expression unchanging as he pressed pills into waiting palms.
"One pill per month," he said for the twentieth time that day."The effects will fade if you are greedy.""Yes, the rune harmonizes with natural qi cycles.""No, do not take two in one night, or your cultivation will backfire."
His tone was steady, his face serene, his heart unshaken by fluttering eyes or whispered temptations.
But the sect itself? Utter madness.
Within a month, every elder who had touched the pill looked no older than twenty summers. The dignified, silver-haired council of the Moon Lotus Sect had transformed into a gaggle of fresh-faced maidens. Their arguments carried the same fire, but their appearances reduced disciples to stunned silence.
"Is that… Elder Yunfei?!""Which one? They all look the same!""Just check the emblems, idiot!"
Even Sect Master Yinxue—formerly a weathered matron of 248 years—now looked like a divine beauty in her prime. She could barely contain her delight, smiling so brightly during meetings that her disciples wore shades of jade glass just to endure the radiance.
By the second month, it was impossible to tell anyone apart. Disciples confused masters, masters confused each other, elders were mistaken for junior sisters. The only way to navigate sect life was to squint at the emblems pinned to robes.
The sect had become a paradise of eternal youth—yet also a comedy of errors.
Elders tripped over being called "junior sister."Disciples accidentally bowed to girls half their actual age.One poor disciple even proposed to her own master before realizing who it was.
And at the heart of it all was Haotian, serene as a stone in a storm, refining pills while the world devolved into chaos around him.
When asked how he felt about it, he simply said:"I wanted peace. This… is not peace."
Then he calmly handed another Beauty Restoration Pill to an eager elder who looked like she could have been his junior.
Life in the Moon Lotus Sect had become… chaotic.
With every elder and disciple now looking like a radiant twenty-year-old beauty, confusion reigned supreme.
It started with duels.
"Senior Sister, your arrogance ends here!" a disciple shouted, pointing her sword at a "junior."
The girl blinked. "Child, I am your master. You've copied my sword stance wrong for ten years."
The disciple turned pale. "M-Master Yunfei?!"
"Who else, you fool!"
The duel dissolved into horrified apologies.
But worse still were the courting incidents.
Handsome male servants, usually ignored, suddenly found themselves bewitched by the "new disciples" roaming the sect.
One boldly knelt with flowers in hand. "Beautiful maiden, I—would you honor me with tea after training?"
The "maiden" turned, cheeks twitching. "I am Elder Xue. I raised you from the cradle."
The servant dropped the bouquet, screaming, and fled so fast he tripped over three steps.
Ziyue nearly collapsed from laughter when she heard.
Through all of this, Haotian sat in his sanctuary refining calmly, ignoring the chaos as elders and disciples paraded past his gates daily, looking younger than their own students.
When asked how he endured, he merely said, "The cauldron does not care about faces. Only fire and balance."
But even his composure flickered once when two identical-looking disciples barged in, each swearing the other had stolen her identity. He handed each a pill and returned to refining without further comment.
Then, one morning, an official decree swept through the region.
The Glacial Lotus Trial, a grand competition between surrounding sects, had been announced. Its prize: rare treasures, spirit stones, and the most coveted reward of all—entry into the Frozen Vein Spring, a natural wonder of ice and qi.
Cultivators who trained within its waters could refine essence three times faster than normal, and the spring's yin-rich nature perfectly aligned with the Moon Lotus Sect's cultivation path.
The sect erupted in frenzy. Elders barked orders, disciples trained day and night, the whole sect preparing to defend its honor.
In the midst of the chaos, Elder Ziyue sought Haotian.
She arrived in his sanctuary unannounced, robes gleaming under moonlight, her expression caught between sharp calculation and sly amusement.
"How do you fare, Alchemist?" she asked, her tone light.
Haotian lifted his gaze from the cauldron, utterly calm despite the storm of activity outside. "The fire burns. The pills form. Nothing more."
Ziyue's lips curved faintly. "Good. Because now the sect burns, and I require your wisdom."
She seated herself opposite him, eyes glittering.
"The Glacial Lotus Trial approaches. We cannot afford shame, not with the Frozen Vein Spring at stake. With it, our disciples will advance a decade in a year. Without it, others will surpass us. Tell me, Haotian—how should we prepare?"
Her tone was cunning, her words weighty. But beneath it all was something subtler, unspoken.
Will you aid us, river-born alchemist? Will you give us more than pills?
Haotian regarded her steadily, silent a long moment.
Then he set down his tools, his calm voice breaking the stillness."Then we must not only prepare their blades. We must prepare their foundations."
Though Haotian never once claimed to be a martial instructor, word spread quickly: his eyes could see through flaws.
It began with a single disciple, a diligent girl practicing the sect's Frost Petal Sword Art in the courtyard outside his sanctuary. She slashed gracefully, each strike shimmering with icy light—yet her movements were stiff, her transitions clumsy.
She didn't notice Haotian watching quietly as he passed.
"Your third form is flawed," he said simply, voice flat.
The disciple froze mid-swing, turning crimson. "F-Flawed? But I practiced it for ten years!"
Haotian stepped closer, calm as ever. He raised one hand, mimicking the motion with a casual flick of his fingers. "Here, you twist too sharply. It fractures the flow of qi. Adjust to the left. Breathe before the strike, not after."
The girl, flustered but obedient, tried it again. The moment she corrected the motion, her qi surged like a river breaking free. Frost bloomed across the courtyard, her blade glowing with crystalline light.
In a single day, she leapt to late-stage success in the technique.
Her jaw dropped. She stared at Haotian, wide-eyed. "S-Senior… are you… are you secretly the ancestor who created the Frost Petal Sword Art?!"
Haotian blinked once. "No. You were breathing wrong."
By evening, the story had spread.
The next morning, Haotian awoke to find three disciples kneeling at his gates, each clutching a martial manual like a holy scripture.
"Senior Haotian, please look at my Cold River Palm! I think it's… broken!""Me too! My Ice Lotus Steps always trip me—please, one glance!""Could you fix my… uh… meditation breathing technique?"
Haotian sighed, but relented. One by one, he pointed out flaws.
"Too much tension in the wrist. Flow qi through the shoulder instead.""Your footwork is reversed on the fifth step. Correct it.""You are inhaling when you should exhale. Qi stagnates like that."
Each correction struck like a thunderclap. Disciples burst into breakthroughs on the spot, their arts shining brighter, their auras swelling.
The disciples' shocked screams and joyous tears echoed across the sect.
Soon, chaos erupted.
Disciples lined up outside Haotian's courtyard, manuals clutched like ransom notes. Elders peered in from windows, pretending they weren't desperate to shove their own decades-old scriptures under his nose. Even Sect Master Yinxue "casually" passed by, clutching a dusty jade slip she had sworn she'd mastered two centuries ago.
"Senior Haotian," she said sweetly, "could you… glance at this ancient technique of mine? For the sake of the sect, of course."
Ziyue, watching from the pavilion above, pressed her sleeve to her lips, shoulders trembling with suppressed laughter.
"First beauty pills, now technique corrections… At this rate, he'll accidentally rebuild the entire sect."
Below, Haotian simply corrected another sword swing, voice calm, expression flat."Your flaw is here. Step wider. Inhale slower."
The disciple screamed in joy as her qi flared, breaking through instantly.
And the line only grew longer.
The moment it became known that Haotian could "see through flaws," the Moon Lotus Sect transformed overnight.
It began with the elders.
"Haotian, review my Glacial Palm technique first. It has greater priority!" Elder Jian declared, slamming her jade slip onto his desk.
"Nonsense," Elder Xue retorted, shoving her aside. "My Frozen Vein Steps are the backbone of the outer sect! Correct mine first!"
Before long, seven elders were circling his courtyard like hawks, manuals in hand, glaring daggers at one another. A few disciples tried to sneak in, only to be shoved back by bickering elders who hissed: "Wait your turn, little chick! This is elder business!"
Through it all, Haotian sat serenely at his table, flipping through jade slips one after another.
"This breathing cycle is reversed. Swap the second and fourth.""This stance wastes qi. Align hips here.""This incantation has one too many syllables. Remove it."
His tone was flat, his face calm, as though he were correcting a grocery list rather than centuries-old cultivation methods.
The elders, once so dignified and composed, scribbled furiously like eager disciples, nodding as though receiving heavenly decrees.
Three days later, silence.
The crowds vanished. The lines outside his courtyard dissolved. For the first time in weeks, Haotian refined pills in peace, undisturbed.
But then… the aftermath arrived.
The sect shook.
BOOM!
An aura erupted from the west wing—an elder long thought stagnant suddenly surging into a new realm.
BOOM!
Another thunderclap, this time from the north, where a disciple's qi surged uncontrollably as she rocketed into the Nascent Soul stage overnight.
"Wh-what is happening?!" attendants cried, running in circles.
Then the heavens themselves thundered. Tribulation clouds swirled above the Sect Master's peak as Yinxue herself burst past her bottleneck, her aura crashing through into the Soul Transformation Realm.
Her joyous scream echoed across the mountains."At last! Two centuries of stagnation—shattered!"
She twirled in the air, looking no older than twenty, radiant with power. Disciples wept, kneeling in awe.
Meanwhile, in the training grounds, disciples tore through their manuals with wild fervor.
"The correction! It works!""My Frost Petal Sword Art advanced to late-stage success in a single day!""My Ice Lotus Steps no longer trip me—I can fly across water now!"
The sect became a storm of breakthroughs. Qi surged like tidal waves from every corner, frost and lotus blossoms blooming unnaturally fast, disciples and elders alike laughing and crying as bottlenecks shattered like glass.
The surrounding sects soon noticed. Scouts reported in trembling voices:
"Moon Lotus Sect disciples… their strength has tripled overnight!""Even the Sect Master has broken through!""This… this is unnatural! What in the heavens did they find?!"
Back in his courtyard, Haotian calmly brewed tea, ignoring the chaos echoing across the mountains.
He exhaled softly. Three days. That is all it took. Perhaps now… I will finally have peace.
At that exact moment, Sect Master Yinxue's joyous laughter boomed across the peaks."Haotian! I will grant you three pavilions, ten cauldrons, and one hundred jade maidens to serve your needs!"
Haotian stared at his tea, unmoved. So much for peace.
Whispers spread beyond the mountains like wildfire. The Moon Lotus Sect, once seen as stable but unremarkable, had suddenly erupted with power. Breakthroughs, tribulations, surges of qi—reports flew into the surrounding sects daily.
Naturally, suspicion followed.
"They must have discovered an ancient inheritance.""No, they must have looted a divine ruin!""Impossible—how else do you explain half the sect breaking through in three days?!"
Thus, spies were sent.
The first infiltrator crept up the misty cliffs at dawn, disguised as a wandering herbalist. He peered through the outer gates, his eyes narrowing—
—and froze.
Dozens of young women in shimmering robes walked past, every one of them radiant, glowing, ethereal. They laughed, they sparred, their qi sharp as blades, their beauty dazzling as spring blossoms.
The spy dropped his basket. "Wh-what sect… is this?"
He rubbed his eyes, looked again. Another group passed by—more beauties, all looking no older than twenty. One winked at her friend, unleashing an aura strong enough to flatten trees.
The spy stumbled backward, choking. "A sect of heavenly fairies…?!"
He fainted before he even delivered his report.
The second group of spies lasted longer. They disguised themselves as traveling merchants and slipped into the city market near the Moon Lotus Sect. From there, they saw disciples shopping—buying herbs, silks, talismans.
Every single one of them looked like a breathtaking maiden in her prime.
The spies huddled in a corner, pale as ghosts.
"Elder reports said this sect was full of matrons and aging cultivators…""Then who are these girls?""They can't all be new recruits! There are too many of them!""Brothers, I think… I think we've stumbled into an immortal brothel."
They fled before they were discovered.
Then came the formal envoys.
Delegations from three sects—Glacier Sword Sect, Twin Serpent Valley, and the Iron Heart Pavilion—arrived at the Moon Lotus Sect's great hall, banners held high, ready to discuss the upcoming Glacial Lotus Trial and the rights to enter the Frozen Vein Spring.
They expected stern elders, wise sect masters, dignified authority.
Instead…
The doors opened, and an entire council of radiant young beauties swept in, each glowing with the aura of Nascent Soul or higher. The Sect Master herself appeared last, her face flawless as jade, her aura newly ascended to Soul Transformation.
The envoys froze.
One man dropped his sword. Another accidentally bit his tongue. The leader staggered forward, stammering."Wh-where… are your elders?"
Elder Yunfei arched a perfect brow, her lips curving. "You stand before them."
"Impossible!" the envoy shouted. "You're all—" He choked, unable to finish the word.
Ziyue leaned forward, eyes glinting slyly. "All what?"
The envoy swallowed hard. "…All too young."
The hall erupted with laughter. Disciples hid their giggles behind sleeves, elders smirked, Sect Master Yinxue beamed with pride.
By the end of the day, the envoys staggered back to their sects pale and shaken, their reports unbelievable.
"The Moon Lotus Sect… it is a sect of immortal fairies. Every disciple, every elder—they are all peerless maidens!""They must have uncovered a divine fountain of youth!""One even smiled at me… my dao heart wavered!"
The surrounding sects descended into panic. Some feared. Some plotted. Others wept openly, convinced the heavens had abandoned them.
And within the Moon Lotus Sect, Haotian calmly refined another batch of pills, ignoring the chaos his existence had unleashed.